Writing a Creative Brief

Writing a creative brief can help you plan your advertising by helping you to focus and providing a good basis for your ad (or other collateral). It should provide your basic purpose for the ad, list some supporting information, and set the tone for your brainstorming.

A basic brief can start with these three things:

• Objective
• Support
• Tone

Here’s what they should generally include.

Objective
What is this ad or other marketing item supposed to accomplish? Think about your SMART goals and make this measurable and specific. Include a brief outline of your target customer here.

Support
What are you promising or claiming and how are you going to back that up? Are you planning to use solid data or go the emotional appeal route?

Tone
What feel are you going for in the ad? Are you branding a new product? Trying to stand out in a crowd? Are you building on an already established identity?

Let’s use the new Mars FLING™ as an example. (This is hypothetical, of course, based on their marketing for this new candy.)

Objective: To entice women, ages 18-49, to buy a new candy made especially for them.

Support: Features a light, low-calorie chocolate finger with a shimmery appeal, perfect for indulging.

Tone: Illicit, slightly naughty, a guilty pleasure with a hint of sexual innuendo. We want to appeal to an adventurous young woman who likes to take chances and try new things.

Maybe this is milder than what they planned, or even way off. But by breaking it down like that, you can see where a creative brief like this can help you better plan your ad’s focus.

It’s possible that you’ll go through a few of these before you hit the right one. But don’t be afraid to write something down so you have a goal in mind when you create your ad. It’ll keep you from trying to do too many things in one advertising piece.

image: Newscom